


Sleep To Dream

by crocodilepatronus



Category: Smallville
Genre: Dream Sex, First Time, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 20:21:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15493911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crocodilepatronus/pseuds/crocodilepatronus
Summary: a missing scene fic for the episode "Slumber"."I like to think all dreams have a psychologically relevant metaphor to be rooted out.”“So…” Clark said, eyebrows knitting together. “What about a dream about… a sword?”Lex smirked. “Sounds sexual to me.”





	Sleep To Dream

Clark should’ve guessed that something was off right away. Lex was drinking Brandy. He usually drank scotch. Brandy was his father’s drink of choice, and Lex didn’t like to take after his father’s preferences. Firelight was cast over him, flickering across his face as he smiled at Clark.

 

“Lex. Your message sounded urgent. Is something wrong?”

 

Lex looked into the distance, contemplatively, the dark drink swirling in his glass.

 

“I’m not really sure… I’m having a rather strange day.” he replied enigmatically, still not looking at Clark.

 

Clark paused standing before him, his jaw setting. Sometimes he loved the way Lex kept him guessing. Other times it made him impatient. And with a meteor affected person on the loose and a girl’s life possibly in danger, he wasn’t sure he wanted to play Lex’s cat and mouse games.

 

“I was hoping you could help me with a problem, Clark.” he raised his glass, so that the surface of the liquor reflected the flames dancing in the fireplace.

 

“Yeah, whatever you need.” Clark said, trying not to sound too brisk.

 

Lex finally looked up at Clark, smiling nonchalantly as if he wasn’t being as cryptic as possible. “Would you hand me that sword?” he gestured behind Clark’s head.

 

Clark turned, looking at the wall. Sure enough there was a sheathed samurai sword hanging against the stone. Lex used to have more militaristic decorations in his office when he’d first moved to Smallville. Slowly the décor had changed- maybe as they become more of a reflection of Lex’s own tastes rather than his father’s. But he did seem to favor Japanese art.

 

“Is this new?” Clark asked, picking it off the wall and bringing it over to Lex.

 

“Depends on your definition of new.” Lex mused, getting up from his seat. “It was the ceremonial weapon used by a group of sixteenth century Samurai warriors. The Katai. Ever heard of them?”

 

Clark gave a self deprecating chuckle. “Japanese history isn’t really my strong suit.”

 

Lex fixed him with his gaze, the corner of his lips twitching upward in a dangerous smirk. “Let me give you your first lesson.”

 

He held out his hand and with a touch of reluctance that came from an unbidden sense of warning in his chest, Clark handed the sword to him.

 

“Legend has it this sword was forged in the fires of Mount Fuji.” he unsheatehed the sword, and began circling Clark, looking at the blade with reverence. “The blade can cut through anything. But the Katai never took it into battle. They never had to… until the day the strongest Katai turned on his own. One by one, the Katai fell at his hand.”

 

Lex swung the sword around his wrist deftly as he spoke, the same skill Clark had seen Lex handle a fencing saber.

 

“With nothing left to lose, the last of the Katai lunged at the warrior with this sword. The blade cut him clean in two. But when the warrior’s armor fell away, the Katai saw he wasn’t even human.”

 

Lex was facing away from Clark and he couldn’t see the expression on his face as he finished his lecture. But then he cracked his neck and in one sudden movement, turned around, lunging at Clark with the sword raised.

 

It happened so quickly Clark didn’t have time to react except to raise his hand instinctively over his face to defend himself. But of course he didn’t need to. The blade cracked across his skin, shattering in its center, the shards clattering to the floor.

 

Lex looked at him, lips trembling slightly. “Just like you Clark. See I’ve always been honest with you. But it turns out you’ve been lying to me from the first day I laid eyes on you.”

 

Clark had considered the situation many times. It haunted him, kept him up at night. But even still faced with the reality of it he was at a loss of what to do or say. He could only shake his head slightly as he watched, paralyzed, as Lex turned on him and began to walk toward the door.

 

“No! Lex!” he finally was able to muster a shout. “I can explain!”

 

“Too late!” Lex cut him off. “The irony is all you had to do was come to me, Clark…”

 

Clark could see the tension in the lines of his shoulders. And when he turned to face him once more, the hurt in his eyes just behind the anger.

 

“I was your friend. I would have protected your secret, I would have protected you. But I couldn’t be trusted because I’m a Luthor.”

 

“No! That’s not it-“ Clark began to say.

 

There had been so many times Clark had wanted desperately to tell Lex his secret. But it wasn’t just a matter of trust. It was his parents warnings, his own fear of being seen as different- as a freak- by one of the people he valued most. The fact that his very arrival in Smallville had been the reason Lex’s hair had fallen out.

 

“I don’t care!” Lex shouted, advancing on Clark until they were mere inches apart and he could see that Lex was practically trembling, the blue of his eyes fierce even in the firelit room. “I’m going to dedicate myself to ensuring the whole world knows your secret. Life as you know it is over.” he hissed.

 

“Lex….” Clark had always been pushed and pulled by that darkness in Lex. The danger of him. Had never been able to tell Lex his secret for fear that his ambition, his insatiable nature would destroy Clark. Never been able to let go of Lex completely because that power, that larger than life magnificence so unlike anyone Clark had ever met, was what drew him to him as well.

 

“Lex!”

 

When Clark woke up he had Lex’s name still clinging to his lips.

-

 

It was rare for Lex to be found by Clark anywhere but his office- drinking scotch and managing his stock portfolios from his laptop. But that day he found him browsing through the library down the hall.

 

As usual Clark seemed to wander in, without Lex’s security guard to escort him, as if he’d materialized through magic. Lex had given up trying to question it. Just another of the confounding mysteries of Clark’s existence.

 

“Clark.” Lex said in lieu of greeting.

 

Clark smiled at him, walking close to the wall and trailing his fingertips along the spines of the books. Lex thought to himself that Clark, even in his denim and work boots always seemed to compliment his surroundings. Not that he belonged there necessarily- that would imply that he blended into the background, more that any location seemed graced by his presence. In a library he looked like some sort of philosopher farmer- green eyes scanning up and down the shelves with a quiet curiosity.

 

“You can borrow anything you like from here. Lord knows you’d be the first person to put any of these books to use in a long time.” Lex told him.

 

Clark nodded his chin at the book Lex was holding. “What are you taking?”

 

“Samuel Taylor Coleridge.” Lex explained, handing the book to Clark. Clark gave an uncomprehending shrug. “A Romantic poet.”

 

“Romantic?” Clark said, his face showing a little skepticism that Lex would be reading some sort of Harlequin novel or bodice ripper.

 

“Not quite what you’re thinking.” Lex said. “Romanticism in the 18th century refers to the intellectual and artistic movement. It wasn’t just about love, but rather an emphasis on emotions in gen-“

 

Clark covered his mouth to contain a yawn.

 

Lex smiled easily at him. “Am I boring you?” he drolled.

 

Clark winced apologetically. “No, it’s not that! Really. I just… haven’t been sleeping that well lately.”

 

He shifted from one foot to the other and made the face Clark always made when he was contemplating if he should tell Lex something or not- he worried his lips together and his eyes avoided Lex’s.

 

“Actually.” he finally said, shoving his hands in his back pockets (another tic), “I’ve been avoiding sleeping if I can… I keep having nightmares.”

 

Lex’s eyebrow quirked.

 

“Whenever I have a nightmare it always makes me want to go right back to sleep- show the dream who’s boss.” Lex admitted.

 

Clark smiled, some of the tension going from his face. “That doesn’t surprise me.” he paused. “What do you have nightmares about?”

 

 _Delusions of grandeur spinning out of control, the piercing cry of an infant that he knows is his brother, fields of sunflowers, nuclear fall out_ ….

“Different things I guess.” he answered. “But I like to think it all has a psychologically relevant metaphor to be rooted out.”

 

“So…” Clark said, eyebrows knitting together. “What about a dream about… a sword?”

 

Lex smirked. “Sounds sexual to me.”

 

Clark’s eyes went wide. Oh, to be an innocent farm boy. “Sexual?!” he sputtered.

 

Lex shrugged one shoulder. “Sure. A sword is a very phallic image. You use it to penetrate your opponent’s body.”

 

It looked like Clark’s brain was sputtering into overdrive at the suggestion, the top of his cheeks were dark. “I guess I thought it was about… danger, I guess.”

 

“Could be.” Lex offered easily. “But maybe the sexual attraction is a dangerous one. The sword could represent a sexual encounter that has the potential of harm in it, or a power imbalance.”

 

“S-so that would mean if I dreamt about someone brandishing a sword at me that…” Clark had to pause to wet his lips. He hadn’t looked Lex in the eyes since the word ‘sex’ had been uttered. “I want to be… I want to have…. but maybe I’m scared of the consequences. That I might get hurt?”

 

He seemed to be struggling with the idea and the blush on his cheeks had extended to his ears so Lex decided to let him off the hook easily.

 

“Or maybe it just means you want to take up fencing.”

 

Clark laughed nervously.

 

\- - -

 

The skinny dipping dream, Clark thought, was predictable. Easily understood. The dream about Lex? A bit more complex. And after all was said and done, the girl had been rescued, Lana was out of harm’s way and safe at home, another Smallville local lunatic defeated, what Clark found himself thinking of again was Lex.

 

In some ways the dream had portrayed his worst nightmare- Lex finding out his secret and being infuriated with him for keeping it from him for so long. Swearing to use his power to get revenge. That was one of Clark’s greatest fears. But at the same time, in his dream Lex had said that if Clark had told him earlier that he would’ve protected him. And that had also been something Clark had often wondered… if he was just able to tell Lex, if it wouldn’t make them even closer. Then he wouldn’t have to worry so much about hiding things from him. Lex could even become his greatest ally.

 

Clark rolled over in bed, thrusting his face into his pillow and sighing. It wouldn’t do any good overthinking it. He’d had this argument in his head a thousand times and what it always came down to was that he couldn’t take the risk- letting someone else in on his secret didn’t just put his own relationship with Lex in general but the safety of his family, his friends. And if Lionel found out, the whole WORLD could be in danger. No matter how much he wanted it, there was nothing he could do.

 

He kicked his blankets off and tip toed downstairs. It was 11 p.m. and his parents were fast asleep. Farmers went to bed early. But he picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed the familiar number to Luthor mansion- Lex’s direct line- and sat on the stairs waiting until the dial tone ended.

 

“Clark?”

 

He could already feel the smile tugging at his face at the sound of Lex’s voice.

 

“Hey. I figured you might be still awake.”

 

He could hear the creak of Lex leaning back in his leather office chair even over the phone. “No… It’s a little late for you though, isn’t it? I thought you Kents got up to feed the chickens at 5 A.M.” He could hear the smirk in his tone. “Don’t tell me you’re still having nightmares.”

 

“Nah, it’s not that. I just… Well, I guess I was tossing and turning and thinking about us.”

 

The silence from the other end was palpable and Clark immediately backtracked, twisting the phone cord around his hand nervously.

 

“I mean our friendship!”

 

A huff of a laugh from Lex came through as fuzzy static. “….Okay.” he said, as if he were merely allowing the conversation to go in this direction on a whim.

 

“I just. I know I ask a lot of you sometimes.” Clark said, staring down at his feet, feeling glad that this conversation was happening over the phone. “You always believe me even when my life gets crazy, you always let me talk to you. I just…. appreciate it.”

 

There was silence on the other end of the line again, a silence in which Clark felt like there was boiling lava under the skin of his face and his grip on the phone cord became white knuckled.

 

“Th…” Lex said from the other line. “Uh. It’s no problem, Clark.”

 

He’d rarely heard Lex at a loss for words.

 

“You know I’m always happy to help you. What are friends for, right?” Lex finally managed to say, seemingly regaining his bearings. But there was sort of a giddy quickness to his voice that made Clark feel like he might be smiling or blushing if he could see his face.

 

“Yeah. Well. I guess that’s all I wanted to say. For now.”

 

“For now?”

 

“Well, I mean. I-I’ll talk to you tomorrow, right?”

 

Now Lex was definitely laughing at Clark. He could hear the nearly incredulous bemusement in the way he said “Sure. If you like.”

 

“Okay. Well…. Goodnight!” Clark said a little too quickly.

 

“Goodnight.” Lex said, his voice velvet even over the phone. “Sleep well, Clark.”

 

\- - -

 

Lex knew this was a dream. Clark was in his bed. Naked. And even though the last week’s summer weather had been intolerably breezeless and humid, the red and purple sheer curtains around his four poster were swaying and turning in the wind, obscuring his view of the nude adonis body stretched out on his sheets.

 

“Clark.” Lex said. “Fancy seeing you here.”

 

Clark’s eyes opened blearily as he looked around, rubbing his hand through his hair. “Where am I?”

 

“A dream. Well, my bedroom. But in a dream.” Lex said conversationally, coming to sit on the corner of the bed. He was still in his button up and dress pants.

 

Clark started, realizing he was clothesless and pulling the sheets around himself to cover up. “Oh! Uh… how do you know it’s a dream?”

 

“You’ve never been here before. To my bedroom. It’s one of the few places in the mansion I’ve never taken you.” he leaned in, brushing his fingertips down the muscled curve of Clark’s arm. “But sometimes we’re together here when I dream it… or imagine it.”

 

Clark looked at him doe eyed and enticingly innocent, a flush on his cheeks.

 

“I’ve dreamt about your bedroom too… But it never looked quite like this.”

 

“Really?” Lex said, slipping his shoes off with one hand while the other continued to trace the shape of Clark’s bicep. He was hoping they could skip to the part of the dream where they were BOTH naked and rutting wildly.

 

“Yeah.” Clark said, distractedly, looking around. “I always thought it would be a bit more austere I guess. But I suppose you did always like purple…”

 

He jumped when Lex’s hand touched his chest, his attention going back to him. “Is this… what we usually do in your dreams?”

 

“Yes.” Lex admitted, his thumb rubbing a circle around Clark’s nipple. And this Clark was different than how he usually fantasized about him. A little more oblivious and a little less horny than the Clark he usually dreamt up. He preferred the realism of this dream, of course. Usually his imagination couldn’t accommodate such an exact replica- or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to, feeling like it would be going an extra level too far in a breach of privacy.

 

He took his hand away. “But we don’t have to if you don’t want.” he was willing to see what direction his subconscious was taking him in. Maybe it was his mind trying to teach him a long overdue lesson in prudence.

 

Clark shifted slightly in the sheets, cheeks still angel pink. “No, I just… It’s not that… I just wasn’t really expecting a dream like this. Lately I’ve been dreaming about a lot of serious stuff… But, I guess I deserve a break.”

 

Lex laughed. “Okay. Well let me just get undressed.” he said starting to unbutton his top but Clark stopped by putting his hands over his.

 

“No! I’d like to do it.” he said, scooching forward.

 

Lex watched, trying to stay as still as a statue, as Clark clumsily unbuttoned his shirt, worrying his lip between his teeth occasionally. He looked adorable. But Lex was impatient.

 

When he finished Clark sat back, his eyebrows raising admiringly.

 

“I’ve never seen you with your shirt off… You look…. I don’t know. A little different than what I was expecting.”

 

Lex scoffed. “What? Did you imagine I had a third nipple?”

 

“No!” Clark laughed. “Just… I guess you’re more muscular than I expected.”

 

“Do you think I’m that much of a weakling?” Lex asked, pulling the shirt off and throwing it onto the floor.

 

“No.” Clark denied again, smiling as he pressed his hands against Lex’s chest, smoothing outward to touch the firm curve of his shoulders. “You just always looked thin. I didn’t expect this much definition. In your arms and stuff.”

 

“Take my pants off next.” Lex ordered, leaning back and smiling as smug as a cheshire cat.

 

Clark undid his belt, tossing it aside before unzipping the front of his pants. But then he paused. So Lex leaned forward once more, taking Clark’s hand in his and guiding it down the front of his pants, so he could feel the shape of his arousal through his underwear. He heard Clark’s breath hitch.

 

“Do you spend a lot of time imagining this too?” he whispered.

 

“Yeah.” Clark breathed. “You have no idea.”

 

Lex caught Clark’s mouth in his, sick of waiting, wanting to taste him, to feel his tongue in his own mouth and forget where he ended and Clark began. He pushed him flat on his back and laid on top of him, Clark’s arm still trapped between their bodies and rubbing against Lex’s erection.

 

“I want this so much” Clark gasped as their mouths broke apart.

 

“Then take it.” Lex said, pulling his pants down and tossing them aside. He sat up, straddling Clark’s waist, his cock pointing up towards his belly button and already leaking. He pulled the sheets aside so Clark was bare underneath him too, and saw that his cock was also painfully erect- a bruised color and pearling pre-cum at the tip.

 

Lex spit in his hand and then grasped Clark’s cock and his own, his fingers stretched apart to accommodate the girth, and began stroking them off simultaneously, pressing his stomach down to trap their two members between his weight and Clark’s body as he moved.

 

Clark groaned, his head tipping back, his adam’s apple bobbing beautifully. Lex licked it. Then bit at Clark’s jawline.

 

“I’m in love with you.” Clark whispered and Lex nearly paused because in his dreams Clark had never said that to him when they were having sex. Usually he maintained a neat order of smut dreams being nothing but that- a filthy romp free of any maudlin emotion. If Clark confessed his feelings they were in his even more private and shameful daydreams- on a beach in a sunset or at a candle lit dinner for two. He didn’t like the crossover. And he never would’ve pictured Clark saying it like this- almost sorrowfully, with a tear leaking out of one of his eyes.

 

“I wish I could tell you.” Clark said.

 

“You are telling me.” Lex answered, still thrusting his palm against their cocks because he was getting closer.

 

Clark didn’t respond, just sort of huffed and twisted against the bed sheets, arching his hips up into Lex’s hand, then with a cry came, spurting across his stomach. It was a bit quick. Lex usually liked to drag things out a bit longer.

 

Clark was panting but he ran a hand through his hair and managed to sit up, pushing Lex off of him and then re positioning himself on his haunches in front of him.

 

“Don’t you ever have things you want to keep secret from me? But that you wish you could tell me?”

 

“I haven’t come yet.” Lex said, businesslike. Clark rolled his eyes, but was smiling, and took his cock in his hands, squeezing it with slow, purposeful, movements up and down the shaft. Lex hummed with pleasure, letting his eyes fall closed.

 

“What would you tell me? If you could?”

 

He opened his eyes again. “Nothing.” he answered honestly.

 

“What?” Clark scoffed. “You don’t have secrets? I know you do.”

 

“I have secrets.” Lex said. “But I don’t want to tell you them.”

 

The strokes on his cock slowed down even further and he winced slightly at the loss of friction.

 

“I would tell you mine. If I could.” Clark pouted.

 

“And I’d like to hear them.” Lex assured.

 

“Hypocrite.” Clark mumbled, climbing onto Lex’s lap and biting Lex on the shoulder lightly. Lex’s cock rubbed against one of Clark’s thighs and he groaned at the contact.

 

“I’m selfish.” Lex explained, running his hands through Clark’s hair. “I never said I wasn’t.”

 

Clark kissed him on the mouth. “I want to be fucked by you.” he said when they pulled apart.

 

“You can’t. It’ll hurt if we do it right now.” Lex warned him.

 

“It’s fine. It’s a dream, isn’t it?” Clark purred, straddling Lex’s lap and spreading himself with his hands. What a sight. His lips swollen from kissing parted as he lowered himself onto Lex’s cock.

 

Lex kissed his throat, his collarbones, whatever he could get his mouth on, as he felt his cock being encompassed by that perfectly tight warmth, until he was filling Clark all the way to the base.

 

“You’re my first.” Clark said, his voice strained and high as he began moving his hips up again, before letting them sink back down on Lex’s lap.

 

“Fuck…” Lex said through gritted teeth, unable to conceive of anything more eloquent with Clark’s body sucking him in with desperation.

 

It only took a few more moments, when Lex grabbed Clark’s hips and began moving him, faster, in short, shallow thrusts, bouncing Clark on his cock as Clark made incoherent whimpers of ecstasy. Until he came inside him, digging his fingernails against the flesh of Clark’s ass.

 

For a minute they just sat entwined in each other’s grip, panting and sweating. Lex kissed Clark on his cheek.

 

“Is this really a dream?” Lex asked, still out of breath. “I feel like… I don’t know… it’s different somehow.”

 

“It’s a dream.” Clark assured him, nuzzling his face into the crook of Lex’s neck. “And it’s going to be over soon.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Because.” Clark kissed him and smiled sadly. “I can hear my alarm clock.”

 

Then a sword dropped from the ceiling and pierced through the mattress, sticking straight up from the bed like excalibur.

 

It shocked Lex so much that he jumped back and then his eyes flew open and he was lying in bed flat on his back, light streaming in through his window, covered in a sheen of sweat and completely alone.

 

\- - -

 

Clark found Sarah Conroy on the curb outside the hospital. He was glad she was able to stand on her own now, she looked much better- with color in her face and wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

 

“Sarah! I’m glad I caught you before you left.” he said running up to her.

 

She grinned at him and gave a friendly wave. “Clark. I’m glad too- I wanted to say goodbye to you. Though Central City really isn’t that far.”

 

“Hey, I actually wanted to ask you about something. Last night, is there any chance that you-“

 

“Yeah.” Sarah said bluntly and then with a little chuckle added. “But that was NOT where I was expecting that to go, BELIEVE me.”

 

Clark felt heat rise to his face. “Wait a minute- you saw- you were-“

 

She held her hands up as if in surrender, still looking like she was about to laugh. “All I did was give you the power to go into the person’s dream who you were dreaming of. I thought it would be that girl you were with- Lana. It seemed like you two were close. But I guess I had it all wrong.”

 

“N-no. You don’t…” Clark sputtered, too many things to defend at once and feeling like the blush on his face was creeping all the way to his ears.

 

“Anyway, I didn’t stick around to watch so don’t worry.” she laughed. “But I hope whatever happened helped you. Maybe you worked something out in your subconscious.”

 

Her cab was pulling up to the curb and Clark helped load her bags into the trunk, still not sure what to say.

 

When she opened the door to the back seat she paused and looked back at him. “I really do hope you get to be with the person you care about most. Whoever that is. It’s what you deserve after helping me so much.”

 

He scratched the back of his neck self consciously. “Well…. we’ll see. Safe travels, Sarah.”

 

He waved at her as the cab pulled away.

 

\- - -

 

“I just wanted to tell you Sarah Conroy made it to Central City. She had another relative there I guess. Hopefully things will work out better than they did with her uncle.” Clark said later that day when he found Lex in his study.

 

“That’s good.” Lex paused. “And how about you? No more nightmares, I hope?”

 

Clark fiddled with the zipper on his jacket. “No. Last night was the best I’ve slept in a while actually.”

 

Lex’s eyes searched him, and Clark wondered if they were both thinking the same thing. Wondering… ‘was it really you I saw in my dreams, last night?’

 

Clark stepped forward, a little awkwardly, just enough that he was intruding on Lex’s personal space. “And I had good dreams… So good I didn’t want to wake up actually.”

 

Lex’s thumb circled the rim of his glass of scotch. As he often did, he looked like he wanted to say something more but was holding back. Clark was sure he looked that way to Lex too. They both had things they wouldn’t say. “Well I’m glad to hear that.” Lex finally settled on.

 

For a moment they stood in silence. The heat of Kansas summer was starting to recede but the bright sunlight that spilled through the painted glass windows of Lex’s study still made every metal object on his desk glow white bright and made Lex’s usually grey eyes vivid blue.

 

“Hey…” Clark started with uncertainty. “Remember when you said I needed to learn the difference between fantasy and reality…?”

 

Lex shrugged one shoulder. “Sure.”

 

“Don’t you think sometimes dreams can come true?”

 

Lex laughed at that, bowing his head slightly, the whites of his teeth almost glinting in the sunlight. “I admire your optimism.”

 

Clark brushed his fingertips against Lex’s arm and Lex stopped laughing abruptly, his face going still as he looked Clark in the eye.

 

“I think they can.” Clark said resolutely.

 

A smile tugged at the corner of Lex’s mouth.


End file.
